Magnitsky family lawyer falls from fourth floor window

Magnitsky family lawyer Nikolai GorokhovA Russian lawyer representing the family of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky suffered serious head injuries after falling from the fourth floor of his apartment building near Moscow.

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazetasaid Nikolai Gorokhov apparently fell from the window Tuesday while trying to lift a bath tub up to his apartment. The paper showed pictures of a shattered tub near the building.

Other reports suggested Gorokhov might have been thrown from the window.

He was taken by helicopter to the hospital.

Gorokhov, 53, has represented the Magnitsky family since 2011.

Magnitsky died in custody in 2009 after uncovering a $230 million tax fraud against the Russian treasury. His evidence implicated a number of government officials and mobsters. The Russian government has said Magnitsky died of natural causes while in jail.

Gorokhov was scheduled to appear in court this week for a case Magnitsky’s mother filed against some of those allegedly involved in the fraud her son uncovered.

Magnitsky had acted as a lawyer for London-based Hermitage Capital, run by William Browder.

Browder pushed the United States to adopt the Magnitsky Act. The 2012 law imposes sanctions on those responsible for the 36-year-old lawyer’s detention, abuse, or death. It also reaches those who concealed his mistreatment, or were involved in or benefited from the criminal conspiracy he uncovered.

Hermitage said this week that Gorokhov was “thrown from the fourth floor of his apartment building.” It didn’t provide detals.

Founder of the FCPA Blog and Editor at Large. He has been named multiple times as one of the 100 Most Influential People In Business Ethics by Ethisphere Magazine and is a Trust Across America Top Thought Leader. He’s a member of the DC, Virginia, and Florida bars. His At Large column is a regular feature of the FCPA Blog.

Legal

Quick Links

About

We set out in 2007 to bring our readers free and unrestricted coverage of all Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions — the first to do that in real-time.

Since then we’ve published more than 7,500 posts by 600 different authors.

Our mission is to help compliance professionals and others everywhere understand how corruption happens, what it does to people and institutions, and how anti-corruption laws and compliance programs work.